Mistress America

Synopsis

From Strangers to Sisters.

Tracy, a lonely college freshman in New York, is rescued from her solitude by her soon-to-be stepsister Brooke, an adventurous gal about town who entangles her in alluringly mad schemes. Mistress America is a comedy about dream-chasing, score-settling, makeshift families, and cat-stealing.

like Frances Ha on adderall, Baumbach goes the full Sturges for his lightest, funniest & most winning film. i was thinking that this Greenwich movie about a manic CU/Barnard student writer was hitting too close to home. and then they drove by my house.

greta gerwig ,, i call upon you because lena dunham's Star Power is getting weaker & weaker ,., i need you to finish her & take your rightful place as Queen of the 20 Something White People of New York

What makes MISTRESS AMERICA so good isn't Greta Gerwig the actress – though she is, as usual, quite delightful; it's Greta Gerwig the co-screenwriter. She and Baumbach had me the moment Lola Kirke's world-wise college roommate belittles her for thinking it might be a good idea to attend a new student "convocation," prompting Kirke's Tracy to reply, "How do you know all this?" Feeling like everybody else was handed a life manual and you got skipped is terrifying.

Suspended adolescence through economic restriction paints the Gerwig/Baumbach New York pictures as strong portraits of their time, but the curious thing about these two movies is a strand of optimism always punctures the melancholy of the situations involving these characters. When Frances Ha initially came out it was met with near unanimous twitter revelations that almost everyone my age (24) related to Frances in one way or another. "I'm not a real person yet", became less of a characteristic of Frances and more of a definition of a generation. She can't take money out of her ATM because the charge is too much and she wanders from house…

7.5/10 A film rooted in comedy but drenched in melancholy, Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America may not be as thought-provoking as While We’re Young or as bittersweet as Frances Ha but is still a nice little film that packages so much potent emotion into a small-scale and low-key story that reminds of me of the great Woody Allen film that was. The film’s star is of course its script but compared to a couple of Baumbach’s previous works it’s very well shot and lit and the framing is brilliant in some scenes. The use of the environment of the Suburban house is very effective and contrasts the free-spirited Brooks in New York and the sensibility of Chloe in the suburbs- nothing…

Mistress America was good for the most part but Baumbach tried to make it the "cute and awkward" type of movie but just made it awkward to watch and frankly cringey at times. I was entertained even though they were yelling half the time. I forget most of it though and I've been pretty out of it the past day or two.

Oh Noah Baumbach, sometimes you annoy the shit out of me and then sometimes you charm the pants off me. Mistress America is a often highly funny, winningly performed story of friendship in a world often confusing and complicated. It's farcical mid section doesn't completely work, but the surrounding film works a treat.